How can I determine which Intellimouse I have

[Rodger in SF]

Hi-

I need to install a mouse driver on my new notebook. When I examine the
underside of my mouse it is labeled "Intellimouse Explorer USB and PS/2
compatible" also it is an optical mouse although the name doesn't say so.

When I go to install the driver, the setup program asks me to choose my
mouse from a list. It also says the product name is on the bottom of the
mouse or on the cable (nothing is on the cable). But nothing in the list
matches what is on my mouse. How can I determine which is the correct one to
install?

The choices setup gives me are:
Intellimouse
Intellimouse Explorer 3.0
Intellimouse Explorer 4.0
Intellimouse Optical

I assume these have different buttons and features associated with them.
Mine is wired, optical, five buttons, withone button on the scrollwheel.

[Cathy Moya [MS]]

Hi, Rodger,
A helpful thing to know about our device selection is, we're pretty
forgiving about working with just about any device you select. You can
pretty much pick anything during Setup and your basic mouse function will
probably work. I'd say go for the Intellimouse Optical to start with. Then,
after you are done with Setup, go into the control panel and start the Mouse
control panel. In the Mouse Properties box, you can actually see a picture
of your mouse so you'll know if you have the right one.

But like I said, the devices are forgiving. The IntelliMouse Optical and the
IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0, for example, both have the same number of
buttons, though the positions are slightly different - the Optical is an
ambidextrous mouse and has a left side button (set to Back) and a right side
button (set to Forward), while the Explorer 4.0 is designed for right
handers and has a large thumb button ( set to Back) and a small thumb button
(set to Forward). On both of those mice, the Wheel button is set to Flip 3D.
If there's an equivalent button between two different mice models, we just
assume that the large thumb button is the same as the left side button. So
whichever mouse you pick, you'll still get left click, right click, flip 3d,
back, and forward working on the device.

I often tell the Mouse driver that I have a different mouse connected, just
so I can see what the options are and test out scenarios. The driver doesn't
really care what is actually connected. You could even go in and tell it you
have the Sidewinder X8 gaming mouse, and it would mostly work - the thumb
buttons would still give you forward and back like on the IntelliMouse, the
wheel button on that mouse defaults to AutoScroll instead of Flip3d, and you
could set options for wheel tilt but they wouldn't do anything on the
IntelliMouse beacuse you don't have those affordances. And of course things
like in-game macros wouldn't work because you don't have the in-game macro
button.

Hope that helps!

--
Cathy Moya
Microsoft Hardware User Experience

www.microsoft.com/hardware
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties and confers no rights.

"Rodger in SF" <Rodge...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9BEEB24D-4046-4EE4...@microsoft.com...

[Rodger in SF]

Thanks Cathy. I've tried this out - loading the Vista driver and trying
different settings. You are correct that the basic mouse functions works
when set for many different models. However none of them seems to allow me
to change the function of the buttons from the defaults. For example when
set to Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 the large thumb button functions as the
default "back." But if I try to change it to something else such as
"middle-click" or even disable the button, it continues to function as a
"back" button. FYI, my goal is to set the middle-click to a thumb button
instead of the scroll button. As default, if I try to use the scroll/middle
button to close a tab in Firefox, and accidentally turn the wheel a bit, then
the tabs scroll around and I end up closing the wrong tab. But since the
buttons seem to be stuck in default I can't change what any button does. The
mouse works normally on my XP systems.

Additionally when I run the mouse setup program in Control Panel, I get the
following warning when it starts up - "Some mouse setting might not work
until you connect a Microsoft mouse to a USB port on your computer or set up
a Microsoft mouse that uses Bluetooth technology." Now I clearly do have a
MS mouse connected to a USB port, so control panel seems confused as too what
is going on. When I look in device manager it correctly identifies the
mouse, and also believes I have the most up to date driver.

[Rodger in SF]

Thanks Cathy, I loaded the Vista driver and indeed the mouse functions when a
variety of models are selected. However it only seems to work for the
default button settings. If I try to change a button to do anything other
than the default in control panel, it looks like the function has changed in
the display, but the button still uses the default setting. For example set
to Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, the left thumb button functions as the default
"back." But if I attempt to change it to something like "middle-click" or
even disable it, the button still functions as "back" (and yes I am applying
the setting). The whole reason I need the driver is to change a button
function. So being stuck on default makes that impossible. The mouse/driver
functions normally on my XP system.

Additionally whe I try to configure the mouse using control panel, I get
this warring message as it starts up, "Some mouse settings might not work

until you connect a Microsoft mouse to a USB port on your computer or set up

a Microsoft mouse that uses Bluetooth technology." Since I do have an MS
mouse connected to a USB port the mouse control panel seems confused. In
device manager it correctly identifies the mouse, and tells me it has the
latest driver installed.